VIGNAL TOURNAMENT

This part of the world, famed for its equable climate, treated us to an even worse first two months of the year than that of our last January & February.  We would like to forget those many days of incessant rain; I even counted up to 11 days loss of outdoor tennis for each of these months.  Once more a hearty thanks to our proprietors, for their foresight & efficiency, in providing us with the means of playing under cover from that often atrocious weather.  Not only this precious facility, but the new experience of many members, of playing on a better-preserved surface: protected from the elements, finding they were playing with a new concentration! So far, so good;  but recently back in the open sunny air, old pleasures enjoyed once more.........

Our annual tournament from February to March also profited from the use of the two covered courts; its success was secured once more by the assiduous work of Didier Eysseric in organising the hundreds of matches with so many players from other Clubs, & to Olivier for receiving all those participants into the Club with his usual good humour. The fortnight of competition ended with finals on the last Saturday this year - to make room for important first team matches the following Sunday.  A busy time then with a successful reception for the Tournament Prize-Giving.  I'll celebrate this with a few photos describing the scene & events:

The cook had made good provision for the amuses-gueules accompanying the champagne & for his valuable work every lunchtime, here he is - our chef Manu, with Oliver, receiving applause from everyone:

and if you haven't yet tasted his tarte aux pommes glace vanille; here's what it looks like:

Another well-liked member of staff, without whom the terres battues would never have been in such good condition, is of course, Fred from Tunisia. He was rather unsafely 'chaired' by Olivier & Didier:

The banners around the courts advertise the generous sponsorship we were lucky to have for this tournament: here is one of the banners in front of the collection of cups for the winners:

  And here is an assembly of winners & runners-up, proudly showing their prizes:

Tournaments are not over for the year:  an internal tournament will take place over the next 3 months until a second Vignal tournament is programmed for June-July; with all the younger age categories this time. 

Start practising as soon as possible:  here is how you should be serving perhaps ............

carla

max

I'll finish this blog with a clear sign of spring with the vigorous sprouting from our well-pruned old willow tree.  Wishing you all a similar vigour in your tennis......

COVERED COURTS

A few months have passed since my last post: we had a lovely summer, the Club Restaurant was thriving in the open air, many old tennis friends reappeared from overseas to play again in the beautiful surroundings they have appreciated for so many years.  Sometimes whole families came - in one case a mother & three daughters - each of the sisters good players & each with one or two young children to follow in their parents' footsteps: tennis steps of course! Members of that particular family live in different parts of France, but otherwise visitors from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, England, Scotland, Ireland, Kazakhstan, America, Australia, (& that's not a complete list), were happily welcomed, & thoroughly enjoyed their stay in this privileged area.

A lot of tennis then, was being played, weekly 'stages', were keeping the teachers busy, & everyone was having a good time!  But also workers were seen to be starting preparations for new constructions on two of our five clay courts; numbers 10 & 11.  This work continued until about a week ago, when suddenly all these efforts came to fruition; here are photos to show these transformations.

First, unpacking the parcels.

Next, spreading out the cover sheets.

Many tricky arrangements of all this material followed, with a vital fixing down of all the edges to the prepared base. The whole structure then was inflated - pushed up & out by air pressure: a procedure lasting a mere twenty minutes!

And here is the resulting 'bubble' (bulle) for court 11, as seen from the Restaurant Terrace & Centre Court.

And number 10, the most southerly of the courts, now appears like this, behind a few cypress tree branches in the photo.

And here is the court from inside.  The sunlight entering here is quite sufficient for play during the day. Artificial lighting for evening play will be provided by 10 lamps per court - one support (without reflector & bulb ) is visible to the left of the photo.

So we now have two covered, clay courts which can be used whatever the weather. A great improvement if members remember the frustrations for clay court players of the three first months of this year 2013. Congratulations & thanks then to the Vignal Owners, Sandrine & Olivier!

Just an important security note to finish this post. 

As the whole structure of this kind of court is supported by the air inside being maintained at a higher pressure than the atmosphere outside, & that this situation is kept stable by the continued use of a ventilator fan outside (& a second one in case of an electricity power cut), only one door of the double-door entry system, must be opened at a time, & this is essential for your own safety, & for the safety of others!